Paternal Instinct
by StarWarrior72
Summary: After the Battle of Hoth Luke Skywalker has not managed to make it off planet, this is what occurs when his Father goes out to find him. Complete.
1. It's Darkest Just Before the Dawn

Darth Vader stared out at the bloody snow scape on which the battle had taken place. Wearing adapted stormtrooper armour with extra life support systems, not his usual armour, he was easy to overlook in a crowd. In this suit his breathing was regulated silently and the controls for its various functions hidden in a backpack instead of placed in plain view on his chest. It was an idea that he had taken from his late wife, Padme. In the guise of a privileged stormtrooper he could have power over himself and a few others, but he was free of the stares and mutters he endured as Lord Vader.

On the battlefield of snow the blood of rebels mingled with the snow to create a bright red landscape. _Perhaps not all of them are dead yet, _Vader thought absently, then with sudden concern, _suppose my son is out in the snow bleeding to death._

Concluding that it would certainly make sense to check, Vader walked over to the commanding officer, "May I have permission to check the battlefield for survivors?"

The man turned and, not knowing that the man to whom he spoke was Lord Vader, he smiled gently, "Are you looking for someone in particular?"

Not seeing a reason to correct him, Vader lowered his eyes to the floor and said quietly, "My son may be out there."

Looking at him kindly the man nodded and said, "You may have permission, and I hope you find your son. Please bring back everybody you find, unless, of course, your own safety, or that of your son, is compromised."

"Thank you, Sir." Vader turned and left, heading out into the cold, swirling snow.

When he reached the first of the bodies he knelt down, glad for the more flexible armour of a stormtrooper, and turned it over. A young man looked up at him, brown eyes unseeing, blood trickling from a gaping hole in his side propelled only by gravity, as the boy's heart had stopped. Vader turned the child back onto his chest, sure that if he left him face up he would feel his death stare the entire time he was checking the other bodies.

Reaching out with the Force he could feel his son's weak Force presence and he knew the boy must be badly wounded._ Or, _Vader thought with a twinge of amusement, _trying to hide himself._

In his search for signs of life Vader turned over many bodies, a girl, blond hair matted with blood, a boy, his green eyes full of his last moments of terror. _So many lives, gone in such little time,_ Vader thought, _and so young, I assumed that Luke was one of the youngest, but this one can't be much more than fifteen._

He saw something in his peripheral vision. A flicker of movement, as he moved through the dancing snow toward the flicker a small form materialized. Bent over a fallen rebel the child took a gloved hand in his own. He didn't hear Vader's approach until it was too late. He became aware of the Sith Lord only when he felt the muzzle of a blaster against his back.

"Who are you?" Vader snarled at the child.

Freezing, his body shaking in terror, the boy replied quietly, "Luke Skywalker."

_Good, _thought Vader, _he was not too badly wounded, he just wanted to hide himself._ "I will give you a choice, Boy, you can continue what you are doing and we can share our findings, or you can force me to drag you back to your base, leaving your friends to die in the snow."

"Thank you, Sir. If I may, I would like to continue to look for survivors." Luke's voice was very small as though he was afraid to believe it.

"You may," Vader turned away to continue his search.

After a few dozen bodies had been turned, found dead, and returned to their original state, Vader felt his son's Force signature falter. With Force heightened senses he heard his son fall into the snow.

"Luke!" Vader ran towards the small body, as he did so, he caught sight of a trail of blood in the snow, everywhere Luke had been. Moving over to his child, he saw a hole in the side of the thin body, too much like the one in the corpse of the first rebel. "Luke! Wake up, Luke!" _Please wake up_, he thought, carefully placing one hand on the boy's chest. Feeling the rise and fall of breathing, albeit none to steady, he breathed a sigh of relief. _Luke's not dead, I should have checked that he wasn't hurt before letting him continue the search, but at least he's alive._

He moved forward, gently gathering the broken body in his arms. "It'll be OK, Luke. I won't let anything harm you again," as though in response to the kind words the small body moved to press itself closer to the comparative warmth of another human. _Don't worry, Luke, I am your Father, and families stick together, you're safe now. You're safe now, my son._

As he took off back to the base he reflected that, although it had been Vader who had set out to look for the child, it was Anakin who ran back through the snow, holding in his arms the most fragile, precious bundle in the galaxy.


	2. How to Save a Life

Anakin ran into the Imperial med bay. He raced through the waiting room, carrying his son's bleeding body right in. He rested the boy's body on the bed next to the best medic.

The man turned to him in surprise, "Hello, Sir. What is the trouble today?"

"It's my son, he was hurt in the battle." Anakin was breathless from the long run.

"This boy is a rebel, are you sure that he is your son?"

"Of course I'm sure! Even if I wasn't sure it would still be your job to heal him so that he could be interrogated. Please just help him." Anakin held his son's hand in his own, gently rubbing the back of his hand. Introduced so suddenly to a warm environment Luke started to stir slightly. "Hush, Luke. Lie still, it'll all be all right." Luke stopped moving and Anakin instantly discovered that he had liked it better when the boy had been moving, then at least he had been sure the child wasn't dead.

"He has lost too much blood, he has frostbite, and he has received medical treatment recently. He has opened old wounds and obtained new ones, at this point he is every bit as likely to die as he is to live, even if I treat him to the best of my abilities."

_No! Not Luke! Not when I just found him!_ Anakin was surprised to discover that he was panicking at the thought of losing his son again, but not half as surprised as he was when he found himself using Jedi methods to calm down. "Please try."

"With all due respect, Sir, it would be as kind to just end his misery. If we either finish the job that wound has started or let it finish its own work then the boy will die fairly fast, if I try to heal him then he is likely to die slowly and painfully."

Anakin jumped up to face the man, "It's all right for you isn't it? After today, whether my son lives or dies, you will go home to your loving family, you will get to play with your children, if you have any, and spend time with your wife. I, on the other hand, have nothing to go home to but my own guilt. All his life Luke's existence has been denied to me, I am sure that he has been on the receiving end of similar lies about me. I love him, but if he dies now he will never know that. I can't let Luke die believing that he is an orphan."

"I don't think that you're right about that, he seems fairly certain of who you are." The medic pointed to the child lying on the operating table.

Luke was lying there, twitching, and calling out "Father! Father, it hurts! Make it stop! Father!"

"You of all people should be able to tell that he is delirious. He is, for all we know, calling out to some father figure he's imagined. He needs your help, please, it is your job to help the wounded." Anakin moved to reclaim his place at his son's side gently grasping the small hand and holding it still. As he did so he couldn't help but notice that his son's spasms decreased at his touch. _Force healing! I am so stupid! I should have thought of that sooner!_

"All right, if you're so sure." The medic started to move around to tend to the boy, but stopped, giving Anakin a glare, "I said that I would treat the boy, who I don't expect to live after all this time lying there bleeding, but I did not say that you could stay in here. You will be a distraction, and besides you don't want to see what I need to do if the boy is to have a chance. Leave."

At that Anakin snapped, "'After lying there bleeding so long'? It was your choice not to treat him right away! I was as fast in convincing you to help him as I could possibly be expected to be! I can help him to heal, he will feel safer with me nearby."

"You are, to him, at this point, just another Imperial. Another cruel, heartless, Imperial. You've said as much yourself. He will not feel safer with you around and there is no way that you can help him heal. Leave, this topic is no longer open for discussion, if you are not gone in the next minute then I will not help your rebel son. I regret his death, we will send you his body, you can head on home."

"He's not dead yet, and he will make it. He's a Skywalker and he is tough, if you do your best then he will be all right." Anakin gave his son's hand one last squeeze before leaving the operating room, praying _Please be strong Luke. Oh, don't die, don't die._


	3. Like Father, Like Son

The wait was a killer, as Anakin sat outside waiting to hear if Luke would survive he couldn't help thinking of all the terrible things he had done. After he had repented for every sin that he could think of he sat and tried to bargain with the Force, well aware that there was no reason that he should get what he wanted so badly.

After what was probably just a couple of hours, but felt like a lifetime, a man came out of the operating room. Anakin was glad to see that it wasn't the medic he had had his, uh, _passionate discussion_ with.

"I'm looking for the Father of Luke Skywalker." The man announced to the room at large.

"That's me." Anakin leapt up.

The man led him into the operating room. "Will Luke be all right?" Anakin knew that it wouldn't take a force sensitive to sense his anxiety.

"He should be, but he should really stay in bed for a couple days. Have fun trying to make him. He woke up ten minutes ago and he doesn't seem to like being still."

"Figures," Anakin muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing important. I'm the same way, that's all."

They arrived next to the bed Luke lay on. Luke's eyes were wide open and he was squirming against his constraints. When he saw Anakin approaching he stopped squirming and looked up at him. "You're the stormtrooper from the field aren't you?"

"Nice to see you up too. How are you feeling?"

"I feel like a rancor got my side and threw me against a wall. Headfirst." He added as an afterthought.

"You're awfully close." Anakin looked at the bandages that covered Luke's side. He reached out to stroke the hair out of Luke's eyes, but Luke pulled away.

"Hey! What are you doing? I don't even know who you are! Are you the trooper who found me?" Luke's voice was dripping with indignation and a hint of fear.

"I'm your Father, Luke. I wish that there was an easier way for you to have heard that but I couldn't think of one. I am the one who found you out there. And as for what I was doing, I just wanted to be able to see your eyes."

Anakin was surprised by how well the boy took it. "You're not my Father, he's dead, you must have made a mistake. My Father was a Jedi, not a stormtrooper. He would never do any of the horrible things the Empire does."

Lord, this was going to be hard, Anakin turned and shouted over his shoulder "Can I get a DNA tester over here?"

A man came running with the device in hand. "OK, Luke, let's have your hand." Luke held out his arm and Anakin gently inserted the needle into his son's wrist, then carefully opened the glove of his armour, enough that he could get the needle past, but not enough to let the carefully regulated atmosphere inside come rushing out. Holding the device out to his son he said, "There, does that prove it to you?"

Luke sat staring at the little screen for a few seconds before he managed to stammer, "R-really?"

Anakin smiled at the boy, "Really."

Luke looked up at his Father, searching for some hint of emotion in the mask. To give his son something more to go on Anakin used the Force to make Luke feel warmer. After what could have been several millennia, but was probably only a second or two, the boy moved like he wanted to hug his father, but he was caught by his restraints. Anakin laughed gently then undid the fasteners. Luke looked at his father, hurt, just for a second, then he laughed too and pressed himself against Anakin's chest.

With a smile Anakin started to stroke his son's hair. They sat together for a few moments before Anakin heard Luke muttering something, listening more closely he could hear the words. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought you were dead. They all told me you were dead. I'm sorry I didn't come looking for you, I didn't know." And there were sobs intermingled in the words, small sobs that Luke was clearly trying to hide.

Anakin pulled away from his son and said gently, "Oh, Luke, if either of us were to have a right to complain about this, it would be you. I didn't know either or I would have raised you myself. I hate the thought that you were raised away from me. Can you stand?"

"Yes, I mean, I think so." Luke tried, and failed, to get to his feet. As he fell Anakin caught him gently.

"You can't stand then. You shouldn't have tried to get up. Would you like me to see if I can get a stretcher or would you like me to carry you?"

Luke crawled into his father's arms. Cradling the boy gently he carried him out of the med bay, calling his thanks over his shoulder. As Anakin took his son to a ship he heard the boy's breathing even out in sleep.


	4. Welcome Home?

When Luke woke up his Father was not, only not holding him, but also not in sight. He sat up, shivering, "Father? Father? Where are you?" He started to stand, but was surprised to find himself too weak to get up. He slumped back onto the mattress and went back to calling.

Up in the cockpit Anakin heard his son calling out, partly Luke's words, partly through the Force. Quickly checking that everything was in order he jumped up and ran back to his son.

"Luke! Is everything all right?" Anakin sat on the edge of his son's bed and the boy managed to pull himself up enough to press his face against his father's chest and cry there. Flustered Anakin gently supported the child's head and rubbed his back in an effort to comfort him. "What's wrong Luke?"

Luke didn't answer, just pressed closer to his father. After a few minutes Luke started to hiccup, finally, he pulled back and gave his father a watery smile, "I'm sorry, Father. It's just that for a few seconds there I-I thought I'd lost you again. It was silly. I hope I didn't disturb anything important."

Anakin squeezed his son gently, "There's nothing more important to me than you. We are in hyperspace, I was just watching the stars. And it really wasn't stupid, I would have been every bit as afraid."

Luke went limp in Anakin's arms and lay there for a little while, resting. Finally, Anakin stood up, resting his son back on the mattress. "We will be arriving soon, I need to be back in the cockpit. Would you like to come?"

"No, thank you. I just wanted to be sure that you were here."

"All right then. Goodnight." Anakin turned to head into the cockpit, glad that he would have a bit longer to try to plan how to explain the rather massive and confusing situation their family was in. Nothing he thought of seemed like a good way to put it, somehow he just didn't think that 'Oh, and Luke, not only is your Jedi father an Imperial, he also just happens to be a Sith. And on top of _that_, your birth was sort of against the codes of both orders,' was going to cut it.

When he arrived back in the cockpit he was glad to have the distraction of flying. He brought the ship down in the landing bay. He sat staring into his castle and pondering how to explain everything to his son.

Finally he stood and went to get Luke. His son had fallen asleep again so Anakin gathered him in his arms again and carried Luke out of the ship.

As he walked through the halls of his castle he couldn't help feeling bad that his son had grown up on a farm while he had had a castle to live in. Suddenly Anakin realized that he had no idea where he was going, after all he hadn't known that his son was still alive long enough to have prepared a room for him. He chose to take Luke to his own room.

Anakin sat next to his son and waited for him to wake. As Anakin sat there, his son started to shiver. _Well, no wonder. The boy was raised on Tatooine, and all he has on is that thin hospital gown. _Anakin pulled another blanket over his son and watched his child roll over and saw one of the child's hands close over the blanket.

Luke blinked suddenly and looked up at his father. "Father? Where are we now?"

Anakin looked back down at his son. "We are in my castle on Vjun."

"Sorry, _castle?_" Luke sat straight up, forgetting his weakness in his surprise.

Anakin laughed, "That's not the half of it. I own the entire planet. Lie down, you shouldn't be wearing yourself out like this." He gave his son's shoulder a gentle push and Luke collapsed back onto the bed.

"I hate to seem dumb, but I was under the impression that being a stormtrooper wasn't the best paying job in the galaxy. How did you manage to get a castle?" Luke was staring at Anakin in wonder.

_Oh, boy. Here comes the hurricane. _"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, of course I do!"

"What proof do you have that I'm a stormtrooper?"

"You're wearing stormtrooper armour."

"I believe that you've done that yourself on at least one occasion."

Luke looked doubtful "Yeah, but," then he brightened "are you saying that you're not really an Imperial?"

"Did I say that?"

"Well, no."

"I am an Imperial. I'm not a stormtrooper, though. I'm… well, Luke… I'm Darth Vader." Anakin turned and looked into the far corner of the room, _That is to say that I've gone by that name since you were born._

Luke laughed, "Hey, let's be serious here."

Anakin's attention snapped back to his son, "I _am _being serious!"

Luke shrank away from Anakin and a look of terror swept the laughter off his face. "You can't be. Why did you lie to me then? If you had wanted to kill me you could have just left me on the battlefield to freeze to death. Or did you want to finish killing off the last potential Jedi yourself?"

_Well, _that _certainly wasn't the way to tell him. _"Luke, that wasn't what I was trying to say at all. I really am your father, we did a DNA test for the stars` sake. I don't want to kill you, I want to protect you. I don't want to be a Sith anymore, I brought you here so you could be safe while I called the Alliance to come get you. I will surrender to the Alliance and give them all the information about the Empire that there is to know."

"Oh, so this is a trap for the Alliance. You're using your own son as bait. What a great father you are."

"Luke! Listen to me! I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to hurt your friends, I am not using you as bait, and, lastly, there is no trap!" Anakin grabbed his son's shoulders and shook him gently.

"Why should I believe you?" The fight had gone out of Luke.

"Because I'm telling the truth." Anakin rested his son back down.

"How can I be sure of that?"

"You can use the Force to check."

Luke closed his eyes and Anakin let his guard down so the boy could scan his mind with ease. After a few moments Luke opened his eyes, "All right, I believe you. I'm sorry that I doubted you."

Anakin cradled his son close to himself "It's all right, I understand. You really had very little reason to believe me."


	5. Reunion

As the Alliance fleet came into orbit Luke watched his Father with some apprehension. In the few days they had been living together Luke had learned to trust the older man with his life, but he had never been too careful with his own safety. The arrival of his friends had forced him to wonder whether this had really been such a good idea.

"_Lord Vader, this is the _Millennium Falcon_, come in. Repeat, this is the _Millennium Falcon_," _came a crackly voice over the com channel that Anakin had open before him.

"This is Anakin Skywalker, the defence systems are disabled you are clear to land." Luke smiled at his father, glad that he had chosen to go with what Luke thought of as his Jedi name.

"_Thank you, we're coming in."_

"I'll meet you on the platform." Anakin stood up and started to make his way towards the door. Luke started to follow his father, but without even turning Anakin used the Force to gently push his son back down into the chair he had been in.

"Hey! They're my friends. I want to come with you to meet them! They might not even trust you!"

Anakin turned back to his son, "That's true, Luke, but you have waited this long to see them again, I think that even you can wait a bit longer. I will give you a choice, though. You can sit there and wait for me to bring them back, or I can carry you out to meet them. Do you really want Leia to see you being carried? You're sweet on her, don't try to deny it."

"That's no choice at all. Can I pick none of the above? And how did you find out that I like Leia?"

"You may have been able to hide your feelings from your friends, but it is hard to hide such things from a Force sensitive, especially if that person happens to de your father. And no you can't choose 'none of the above'."

Luke sank back into his chair, rolling his eyes at his father's back.

Out on the platform Leia stood waiting in front of the _Millennium Falcon_, quietly running through the information that had been sent to the Alliance. Vader had said that he had information from the Empire that the Alliance would find helpful, and that he had Luke. Then Leia had heard Luke's voice, "Honestly, Father, they're going to think you're holding me hostage."

He hadn't sounded as though he was in pain or scared, in fact he had laughed, that had been why Leia had agreed to come to his aid. She didn't know why Luke had called Vader 'Father', and deep down she hoped fervently that it hadn't been for the only reason that she could think of. _Don't be stupid, Leia, _she told herself, _ there is no way in the galaxy that Vader could be Luke's father, his father was a Jedi Knight. _

A voice that sounded suspiciously like her Obi-Wan's spoke in her mind, _Yes, but you heard the call from the castle, the man clearly introduced himself as Anakin Skywalker, that can't be a coincidence._

Leia was beginning to believe that she was going crazy when a stormtrooper came walking across the landing platform. When he spoke Leia could just recognise the voice from the com, "Hello, are you Princess Leia Organa?"

"I am."

"My name is Anakin Skywalker. Pleased to meet you." The trooper took a bow, and as he straightened up Leia thought of her first words to Luke, although in this case the though was more like _Aren't you a little tall for a stormtrooper?_

"Where is Luke, we were told that Vader had him here."

"I'm not holding my own son prisoner, he's inside." The man started to walk towards the castle and Leia followed warily. "Luke was badly wounded in the battle on Hoth, but I think that he will make a fun recovery. He is already well on his way."

"That's good." Leia tried to sound positive, but her head was spinning from the shock of hearing someone say, out loud, that they were Luke's father. _He must be really happy. _ she thought_, he always looked up to his father, and I know for a fact that when he's scared he reaches out in the Force trying to find his father's spirit. But what if this man is lying, Luke's so trusting it wouldn't be unlike him to believe that a person was a Jedi because they had some kind of magic trick rigged up and they told him that they were a Jedi._

They entered a room and Leia instantly recognized a communications center. In a chair near the middle of the room sat Luke, absently staring out of the large window that faced the stars. When he heard them enter he jumped up and ran to meet her. As they embraced Leia was glad to note that Luke had, at least, been given the chance to bathe since being brought here.

"You don't trust my Father, Leia?" Luke pulled away from her and looked kind of hurt.

"It's not that I don't trust him," in a strange way she _did_ trust the man who claimed to be Anakin, "It's just that you've been known to be a bit too trusting in the past."

Luke grinned at that, "You mean that I am a danger to myself and others because of how trusting I am."

Leia smiled back at him, "Well, yes."

"Come on, Luke. You need to be sitting down." Anakin took hold of Luke's arm and dragged him to the chair. Luke protested the entire way.

Leia laughed and decided that even if the man wasn't who he claimed to be he didn't seem too dangerous. "You still try to make him sit still when he's recovering?"

"Yes."

"We gave up on that_ years_ ago. If he were to sit still he might miss out on his next injury. He spends a lot of time in hospital already, just being treated. He gets hurt on every single mission he goes on."

"Oh, wonderful. Can I bring him to your ship? On a more professional note, I'm officially giving this planet to the Alliance and requesting to join you."

"Go ahead and take Luke to our ship. I'm afraid that it's not my choice who joins the Alliance, but I do have a say and I don't see a reason why not. Your offer would go over better if you change your outfit. Seeing a stormtrooper might offer something of a biased opinion."

Anakin looked down at his armour, "I wish I could change my outfit, it would be nice to breathe real air for a change. I had a bit of an accident around the time Luke was born. I kind of fell in a river of lava. All my limbs are prosthetic and only a few of my organs actually work. My lungs are not among them."

"Really? The Empire doesn't put a lot of money into health care does it?"

"Yes and no. Are you saying that the Alliance has the technology to heal me?"

"Yes. We can't exactly give you flesh and blood replacements, but we could give you artificial lungs. If your Empire didn't know about that I have to say that I wonder what they think we spend our money on. We have whole planets funding us, but we can't keep up a few ships. The only reason that I could think of is that we had something more important than death and destruction to do."

"Oh, I guess they didn't think of that. Is that an offer?"

"Of course. Come on, we don't have all day."

Anakin bent over his son and gathered him up. "OK, if we can take Luke back to the ship I'll come back and take a second trip for our bags."

Leia followed Anakin down the halls and back out to the ship, led him on board, and showed him Luke's bunk. Anakin lay Luke down and went back out to the castle to get their things. Within a few minutes he was back with two duffle bags. As soon as he was back on board Han gunned the engines and they were off.


	6. Growing Together

Two weeks later Anakin woke up in the med bay. The first thing he noticed about the room was that his son was asleep in the corner, lying curled up on the floor, looking for all the galaxy as though he had fallen off his chair when he fell asleep. Anakin lay still and watched his son, savoring every moment with the child. Even if he was asleep.

After a few minutes Luke woke up. When he saw his father looking at him he leapt up and ran to his father's side. Anakin sat up, healed, and put his arms around Luke.

"Are you all right?" Anakin asked.

"Me? It's you we should be worried about." Luke sat down on the edge of the bed next to his father.

"You were lying on the floor. It was quite natural, as your father, to be worried about you." Anakin smiled at his son and ruffled his hair gently.

Luke rolled his eyes playfully, "Honestly. Are you all right?"

"I feel fine." Anakin looked at himself, "I can survive without a life support suit. I'm back with my family. I'm more all right than I've been in the last 19 years."

"Good." Luke stood up, "I can't wait to get out of this stupid little room. It's gotten so boring. The med droid says you're clear to come to your own quarters now. I made sure that they're right next to mine."

Anakin stood, half expecting his legs to fly out from under him.

Luke grinned, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Just stay away from magnets."

Anakin laughed, "I'll remember that. Where are we going anyway?"

"Home." Luke turned and led his father out of the hospital wing.

A few people gawked at them as they walked through the ship. Anakin sped up so that he was walking next to his son, "How much do they know about this?"

"Everything I know. Information travels fast here. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows what's happened and the information travels faster than light. Unfortunately misinformation travels just as fast and it would take a huge effort to track down the root."

One small girl came up to Anakin, "Are you really Darth Vader?"

Anakin bent down so that he could see her eyes, "Not anymore."

"Oh." She skipped back to a woman who must have been her mother and Anakin saw the mother bend down and ask her what he had said. He couldn't help smiling when she proclaimed loudly, "Not anymore."

Luke turned to his father, "And now that's common knowledge. When we arrive at our quarters people there will know what you told her."

Sure enough the mother was already talking to another rebel and the little girl had gone off to play and tell all her friends that she had talked to someone who 'wasn't Vader anymore'.

Sure enough, by the time they reached the residential area of the ship they were receiving more strange looks, although it might just have been that there were more people to give them.

This time it was a young boy who had the courage to ask Anakin a question, "If you're not Vader anymore who are you?"

Anakin grinned at Luke, "And I thought the adults were brave." He turned to the boy, "My name is Anakin Skywalker."

The kid nodded slowly in understanding, "Does that mean that you're Luke's daddy?"

Luke saved Anakin from trying to answer that he was Luke's _father_ but maybe not his _Daddy_, "Yes, he is. Is that your dad over there?" he pointed to a where a young man was calling and waving like crazy.

The boy jumped, "Yes! He is. I gotta go, I'll talk to you later," he called over his shoulder as he ran back to his father.

Luke smiled, "What did I tell you?"

"That's incredible."

"Around here we have a joke that there's no reason to use comlinks, word of mouth travels faster. Sometimes I half believe it." Luke stared after the little boy who, like the little girl, was already passing on his news to his parent.

"That is bordering on disturbing."

"Yeah. Let's get moving, huh?"

Luke sped up and Anakin matched his pace carefully. At last they reached Luke's quarters and safe refuge from the strange looks. Luke flopped on his bed and Anakin sat next to him.

Looking around his son's room he saw that it was simply furnished. The only personal effects were glow-in- the-dark stars, some well-drawn pictures, and a small stuffed bear, a toy model of a long extinct species. One of its ears was missing and the edge was frayed and burned. Luke sat up and leaned on the wall, holding his bear.

"Do you like it?" The boy looked concernedly at his father.

"It's great. Who drew the pictures?" Anakin motioned around the room.

Luke grinned widely, "I did."

"They're beautiful. That must be a skill you got from your mother's side."

Luke smiled, "You don't have a place to stay yet, so we're going to be sharing my room, OK? I've got an extra mattress and blankets in the closet. You can have the bed."

Anakin shook his head, "No. You slept on the floor last night."

Luke didn't argue and Anakin guessed that last night wasn't the only night Luke had fallen asleep in the med bay.

"Leia and Han have the quarters just next door."

Anakin nodded, "Would you like to do some Jedi training together?"

Luke frowned, "Are you sure that you're recovered enough?"

"I need to try this out, see what I can do. There's no way to get used to it without testing it. I'm going to train a bit, are you joining me or not?"

"All right." Luke stood, "Come on, I'll show you how to get out of this maze."

"I thought we were on a ship."

"You were out of it for two weeks, that's all the time it takes for us to find a new planet for a base and set it up."

"Oh." Anakin felt very stupid.

Luke led his father out of his room and up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, left onto another, left, and left onto what should have been the first hallway, but wasn't. As they continued Anakin could see why his son had compared it to a maze. Finally Anakin saw daylight ahead of him and Luke showed him out into the outside world.

The planet had tall, dense trees covering the surface and there was a large lake right in front of them.

"Welcome to Endor. I'm really glad they chose here as our next base. I don't think I could have survived another planet like Hoth. Way too cold."

Anakin surveyed the landscape, "This place is perfect. Come on!" he raced off among the trees and Luke dashed after him. Anakin led his son through several thickets and over a few streams before Luke called out, "Father! Slow down, I can't keep up."

Anakin stopped and waited for his son to catch up. When the child rejoined his father, Anakin instantly regretted running this far without stopping to check that his son was doing all right. The boy had cuts all over his arms and his small face and he was soaked. In complete contrast was his characteristically childish grin.

"Are you all right?" Anakin asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I just tripped." Luke reached over his shoulder and pulled a thorny twig out.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Luke said impatiently, "Let's get on with training."

Anakin showed Luke various exercises and techniques all day. Luke was a fast learner and Anakin found it easier to teach someone he could understand than it had been to teach Ahsoka.

The only problem with teaching Luke was that he was so eager to learn that he only stopped when he passed out from exhaustion. Anakin ended up carrying his sleeping son back to base and seeping in the guilt that was currently telling him that he was a terrible father for not noticing how tired his son was getting.


	7. A Certain Rotting Corpse

"Dad!" Luke shook his father's shoulder energetically, "Wake up!"

Anakin rolled over and glared at his clock, "Do you ever sleep longer than four hours?"

"Sometimes," Luke conceded, "but that was an interesting lesson we were half-way through."

"Go back to bed."

Luke made a face, "Please, Dad?"

"You need your sleep."

"I can't sleep if I'm excited about something."

Anakin rolled out of bed, bleary eyed, "There are times I really hate you, Luke."

Luke smiled innocently, "I can be annoying, can't I?"

"You can be. But I can't hate you for very long." Anakin fluffed his son's hair and they headed out of the base.

"Any requests?" Anakin pushed a holocron into his son's hands.

Luke activated the device and quickly sorted through the various lessons. "How about this one?" he asked his father, pointing to a lesson.

"Force jumping? I should have known." Anakin took the holocron back. "Let's get farther into the forest OK?"

Luke nodded and they set off. Anakin started the lesson in the middle of a forest clearing and taught his son how to jump distances. After he was quite sure that Luke was capable and in control he started teaching the boy how to add height to the equation.

"Well, well. Isn't that sweet. Daddy's teaching his little boy how to play silly games."

Anakin and Luke spun. A man stood at a gap in the trees. His face was covered by a deep, dark hood. One wizened hand held an equally twisted cane.

"Palpatine." Anakin felt hatred rise in him. He quickly pushed it away, the Dark Side had gotten him into this mess and he had no intention of running back to it for help now.

"Yes. I thought you had forgotten me. Not returning calls is very rude, Lord Vader."

"My name is Anakin Skywalker."

"Minor details."

"To you maybe it is, but to me it's important!" Luke spoke up from behind Anakin.

Anakin grabbed his son's arm to stop him from doing anything too ridiculously rash. "Leave it, Luke. Let me deal with him."

"Jumping up to defend Daddy, are we?" Palpatine cackled.

Luke ignored his father's caution, "At least I have someone to defend! You worthless worm ridden corpse! You wouldn't know love if it bit you on your ugly nose!"

"Luke!" Anakin carefully made sure that he was right between his old master and his son.

"Don't be hypocritical, Vader. You would have acted the same way. As amusing as it is to watch your little argument I'm afraid that I have more important matters to deal with." With that the Emperor drew his saber and ignited it.

Anakin slipped one hand behind him to hook his lightsaber off his son's belt. "Get away from my family."

"Oh, you've had your chance at a family, this is Luke's chance. I hope you don't mess it up for him."

"Luke, go back to the base. No-wait! Stay here, just stay out of the way."

Luke slipped into the bushes. He quietly pulled his blaster off of his belt._ If you hurt my dad, I swear you will have six smoking holes in your grotesque head before you hear the blaster working._

Anakin ignited his saber and moved towards his master. "You destroyed my family and, seeing as you don't have a family, I'm just gonna destroy you."

"Brave words for a fallen Jedi." The Emperor twirled his saber into a wheel of death.

"I fell, but you can get back up." Anakin flew at his master, saber at the ready.

They exchanged blows for a few moments, but Anakin had the disadvantage of trying to protect something. Namely, Luke. Palpatine pushed his student into the dirt, saber at Anakin's throat.

"Stupid Jedi. You can never win."

_No! Dad! _Luke braced his blaster against a fork in a branch of his tree and fired. True to his word several large holes appeared in the side of the Emperor's head. _Gotcha. I guess what goes around really does come around._

Anakin scrambled up and ran to his son's hiding place. "Luke! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Are you OK?" Luke crawled out of the bush, pulling twigs out of his hair.

"He didn't get me. Thanks to you," Anakin reached out to his son and pulled him close.

Luke laughed and submitted, "I do have one small problem."

"What's that?"

"Take a closer look at that bush. Thorns. I would not recommend it as a place to hide."

Anakin smiled, "At least we both survived."

Luke looked at the Emperor's corpse, "Yeah. What should we do about him?"

"Nothing. He can rot out here. Look, he's already half decomposed."

They laughed and started back to the base.

"When they ask, you killed him. Got it?" Luke said as he took his saber back from his father.

"But I didn't. You did."

"That's completely irrelevant. You would have if you could."

"That's true, I suppose."

"You were right about needing sleep. First thing when we get back, I'm going to bed." Luke yawned hugely and leaned on his father.

Anakin slipped one arm around his son, "I'm afraid that you have to wait until we've explained this morning's events to your leaders."

Luke moaned softly, "Yuck. I just want some sleep."

"I know you do." Anakin pressed his lips against his son's hair, "Don't worry, I'll be quick."


End file.
